Dagenham & Redbridge boss delighted with another away win

Tom Eastman’s 81st-minute header proved decisive at Aggborough, as Daggers enjoyed a third successive away win.

And Strevens said claiming a maximum haul was key, having seen his men left empty-handed at home against Solihull Moors a week earlier. 

“Delighted with the three points, we certainly wasn’t at our best, we definitely played better last week and got nothing,” Strevens told the club website.

“A resolute performance from each of the boys, we had to deal with aerial duels, balls going in our box from set-plays, long throw-ins, defended front to back really well, limited them to very little but to be honest we didn’t create an awful lot ourselves either.

“In a game like today, keeping that clean sheet and then a fantastic delivery in from Westy [Myles Weston], I think Phippsy [Harry Phipps] got first contact on it and Easty popping up at the back stick was enough to get us the three points.

“The most important bit is three points but we certainly want to play better.”

Strevens made a trio of changes to his starting line-up, with Nik Tavares, Frank Vincent and Charley Kendall coming in for Harry Phipps, David Longe-King and Freddie Sears.

And he was pleased to see those moves pay off, adding: “We brought Nik in and left Phippsy out. Nik has come back to full fitness now and was playing extremely well before he got injured.

“We just hoped that he would step out with the ball better into that midfield third to join in with the midfield players.

“Same with Johnno [Elliott Johnson] the other side but it didn’t quite work that way and actually Tavs went into midfield and Phippsy come on there, the aerial duels he won as well.

“That was a tough decision for us but we made it.

“Kingy was struggling, not a hundred per cent fit to play. He did extremely well in the midfield area last week but Frank Vincent come back into the team after missing last week through suspension.

“Charley came in for Freddie Sears, who has got a little bit of a problem with his hamstring so he wasn’t able to train for the majority of the week.

“Charley has been training really well, eager for his opportunity to get into the side, and come back in up front alongside Inih [Effiong].”

Daggers are due to host Rochdale at Victoria Road on Saturday, after a midweek trip to Basildon United in the Essex Senior Cup.

And Strevens wants his side to maintain their momentum in the county competition, having moved up to 13th in the table.

“It’s four wins in six, three away wins on the bounce. It’s an away game for us to try and make it four wins but boys will get a chance and hopefully that leads into Saturday as well,” he added.

“We want to do well in it. In the Covid year we were in the final, but it’s a competition we haven’t won for a while.

“We want to give it the credit it deserves, we’ll try and put a strong team out.

“Will we make changes? Of course we will, but we’ll give some young boys a chance, some boys that need minutes a chance.

“It’s a competition we want to try and do well in. We want to have a good run and keep that feeling of winning games of football.”

Daggers were cheered on by around 200 fans at Kidderminster and Strevens was grateful for that backing and now wants to produce more wins on their own turf.

“We certainly felt their presence in the latter part of that game,” he said.

“We didn’t give them loads to shout about in the first 45 minutes but attacking that end, I said to the boys at half-time if we get a head of steam up and have some final third entries, they’re going to get right behind us.

“They did that when we scored the goal but I felt their support and I’m sure the boys did as well when they were trying to see the game out.

“The way the boys were defending their own box, I know it was right the way down the other end, but they certainly felt them, I felt them from the sideline getting right behind the boys.

“So thank you for making the journey, the support they’re giving is fantastic, the away support, and we want to give them more to cheer about at home now.

“We’ve got to try and win that game next week in front of our own fans against Rochdale.”